Hmph, at the beginning of this one, the trio actually fell
into a pitfall that wasn't dug by Team Rocket, hence introducing the
Squirtle Squad. The little showdown thing between Pikachu and the leader
of the Squirtle Squad was funny, while the rest of the gang rushed their
injured teammate away. The trio found out from Officer Jenny (who, we found,
had lots of identical relatives, just like the Nurse Joys) that the Squirtle
were deserted by their previous trainers and now caused trouble all around
town. We then saw Team Rocket spying on them. James and Meowth just wanted
lunch while Jessie wanted to think of their next Pikachu-snatching plan.
I like her line: "Am I the only member of this team who thinks world domination
is more important than what's for lunch?" And then of course her stomach
growled too. ^_^
When the Squad captured TR (funny concept in this episode -- Pokemon catching
humans), they got the idea for Meowth to try to gain their trust to trick
them into catching Pikachu. The conversation about Jessie and James being
Meowth's pets was hilarious, I actually have a sound clip from it that I
found online ages ago: click here. When
the Squad did capture the trio, it wasn't before Pikachu had gotten injured
by that Goldeen. After some convincing, the lead Squirtle allowed Ash to
run to town for a Super Potion, on the condition that if he wasn't back by
noon the next day the Squad would dye Misty's hair purple. (I heard that
in the original version they threatened to *kill* Misty, which explains the
vision of her falling into a black hole that Ash had when he got back to
find them no longer tied up.) The broken bridge and fall-into-the-river scenes
were good, but not entirely necessary IMO. I guess they were there to build
suspense and make people wonder if Ash would get back in time though. Ash
would've been back a lot sooner if it wasn't for Gary, who unwittingly KOed
him by opening the shop door in his face, walking by without even noticing,
that was kinda funny. The weapons TR used when they stole those flash bombs
(heh..and floss) from the store were weird, to say the least. They said they
wer ice guns, but James' looked more like some kind of assault rifle. Funny
how everyone in the store pointed their guns at Ash when he entered right
after TR had left, yet the later Dratini episode was banned because the warden
was waving a gun around...weird. Odd to see the same store selling both guns
and trainer supplies, but it looked like your stereotypical "general store"
so I guess it was a small town. Anyway, Officer Jenny vouched for Ash and
brought him back to the cave. Charmander led the way through the back entrance
to the cave, only to find that nobody was in the main part of the cave where
they were all tied up before! They were actually outside, so when Ash found
them he was relieved to see Misty OK (heh...and still with her red hair),
and found that the Squad was bluffing.
TR attacked with their flash bombs, and everyone ran for cover back inside
the cave. But oops, the lead Squirtle was flipped on its back from one of
the blasts and couldn't get up! I think even Ash-bashers have to admit that
even in early Kanto, he was completely selfless when it came to Pokemon,
in this case diving on top of Squirtle to protect it, and telling it to go
save itself. But Squirtle wasn't really injured per se, it just couldn't
get up, so it carried Ash out of the way in thanks. ^_^
Ash and Squirtle then confronted TR, and Squirtle blasted them off with Water
Gun, saving Pikachu in the process. Then Ash got the idea to have the Squad
combine their Water Guns to fight the fire that the flash bombs had caused.
The Squad earned commendations from Officer Jenny for their efforts and were
named the town firefighters, so that solved the problem of the troublemakers.
I like how at the end, the lead Squirtle was following the trio along the
road, and when Ash asked if it wanted to come, it finally took off its shades
to reveal its shining eyes ^_^ and joined the group.
The weapon stuff in this episode was kinda strange for several reasons, and
the Squad's thread could've been something a little more serious than dying
Misty's hair, but the episode was very good overall, and Ash obtained his
sixth Pokemon in Squirtle.